Leither

I’ve often wondered about doing a Northern Lights cruise but I think that has effectively removed the temptation, thank you. Regards.

We sailed with Fred Olsen to the Azores, Canaries & Madeira last year. First stop on Terceira was cancelled because of storms & we spent less time on São Miguel than I wanted but did manage to see most of what we wanted to see. We'd been there in the mid-70s for several weeks so knew what we wanted to see. We hired a car & driver through https://www.brumasecenarios.com/en/ and our driver was first class. I told them we wanted to see - - Lagoa das Furnas; - Parque Terra Nostra; - Caldeiras das Furnas; - Miradouro Pico do Ferro; - Miradouro Santa Iria; - Vista do Rei; - Lagoa das Sete Cidades. We managed to see all of them and more, although it was very misty for our first stop at the viewpoint overlooking Sete Cidades. Weather improved as we moved east. A wonderful day, highly recommended. Regards.

Yes, but you won’t be able to access it until you disembark. It will be taken off you when boarding and stored somewhere.

I’m surprised; I don’t recall ever seeing slot machines on a FO ship, and we were on Bolette last year.

We’ve been on quite a few FO cruises and never seen a casino as such but I think I recall seeing a rather lonely roulette wheel. Can’t recall if that was on Bolette or not. Regards.

In my experience, tenders tend to go on throughout the day.

Funnily enough, I hadn't thought about claiming for a missed port until I read your post. We do have cruise cover as an add-on & I checked, supposedly can claim £150. Last year our FO cruise couldn't call at Praia de Vitoria because of storms so I've submitted a claim this morning.

We’ve done lots of independent trips - including those in Iceland above - and never had any problems.

I replied to a similar question on the Roll Calls board -

I don't remember that but I do remember his always amusing 12 noon announcements. And that he left the cruise early to return for the birth of one of his children. He was also the captain on our first cruise, to Norway.

And interesting to see that the captain, Jozo Glavic, is going with her. He was the captain who took us through the Corinth Canal on Braemar a few years ago.

The details are here - https://www.fredolsencruises.com/faqs/on-board/what-is-your-procedure-for-tipping-on-board We normally just go along with this but give the stewardess and the two waiters a little bit extra, ie maybe £5 or £10 each. Fred Olsen provide envelopes for this. Regards.

São Miguel and Terceira are the names of the islands, the other two names are the principal towns respectively.

We did the cruise last year to the Azores, Canaries & Madeira. Unfortunately the first stop, Terceira, was cancelled due to storms. On São Miguel we'd booked a private tour through https://www.brumasecenarios.com/en/ in Ponta Delgada. It was 50 years since we'd been to the island and knew exactly what we wanted to see/do and what we didn't. Our guide/driver Gabriel was really first class and delivered everything we wanted. Highly recommended. Regards.

We did the Cruise through the Corinth Canal on Braemar in 2019 and it was excellent. But this year we cruised on Bolette to the Canaries, Azores etc and were very happy with the ship. So much so, we booked to go to Norway on her sister ship next year. Regards.